The Thankful Project: Day 14 - A Blessing

You know how when you've lost a loved one, you search for signs that they’re still with you?  You hold on to those memories tightly, but during special events or times of uneasiness, you search for signs that they are there and that you are making the right decision?  Maybe it’s just me, but I believe in those signs.  It’s really such a blessing to feel so connected to those who have gone before us. I’m so thankful for these blessings.

After my grandfather died in 2004, any time I thought about him or missed him, I would see a yellow butterfly.  I laughed it off, but deep down inside thought of this as his special way of communicating to me.  That he was missing me too.

Well when my grandmother died a few years later, I would always see two butterflies.  Two little yellow butterflies together.  It was my sign that my grandmother and grandfather had been reunited, yet still wanted me to remember them.  Call it coincidence, but any time I am thinking about them, contemplating life, or wondering if I am making a good decision, I always see them.  It’s an assurance that I’m doing the right thing and that everything is okay.  I love my little sign that they are still here with me.

It’s not just me that thinks this either.  Brian’s grandmother passed away a few weeks after we were married.  She was on hospice for a week or two.  The nurses kept warning us that the time was coming that she would pass, but she didn't.  This went on for a few days.

She did eventually pass, on a cloudy, overcast, gloomy day.   The setting outside was perfect for how we were feeling inside.  Shortly after she passed, the skies cleared and there was a rainbow.  My husband’s whole family joked that it was her sign to us that she had made it to heaven.

Even on special events, she’s still with us.  There was a rainbow on the one year anniversary of her passing and even at my sister-in-law’s wedding.  The wedding was in Florida and a storm was moving in right before the ceremony.  Again, the skies cleared just in time for the pictures and the ceremony.  What was captured in the picture below is truly amazing.  Granny Irene was there with Erin on her wedding day as well!

I miss our grandparents.  I miss the holidays with them around.  I miss the fact that they aren’t here to celebrate the new ways that our family has grown.  Yet, I am thankful beyond words for the little blessings we experience that let us know that they are here with us!

I’m linking up with Kenzie over at Chasing Happy for the month of November.
Be sure to stop by and check it out!